HOWELL CLARK

HOWELL CLARK, a prominent member of the Sacramento Society of California Pioneers and an eminent citizen of the Capital City, was born in Genesee County, New York, June 3, 1811. His father was a farmer and when the subject of this sketch was but two years old the family removed to Ohio, and two or three years afterward to Wood County, in West Virginia, on the Ohio River, where they lived four years. Subsequently they've moved to Fountain County, Indiana, among the early settlers on Osborn's Prairie, at the same time that Jesse Osborn first settled there. Later they removed into Vigo County, near Terre Haute. Young Clark, the second son, continued to work on the farm and in a saw and grist mill until he became of age. About this time his uncle, Chester Clark, of Philadelphia, started extensively in the mercantile business, having at one time seven stores along the Wabash River; and in one of these he gave his nephew a position as clerk and soon after the entire management of the business of that house. Two years afterward he and a man named Asa Geer bought an interest in one of these stores, and finally Mr. Geer retired from the business. Mr. Clark then continued the store alone, and also shipped produce, principally corn, on flat-boats to the New Orleans market. These and other enterprises occupied his attention during the years 1846-'48, when, his health becoming impaired, he secured his brother, Jere Clark, to take charge of his business affairs, and started for California, hoping to improve his health. The party which he joined was made up in Clark County, Illinois, consisting of fifteen persons, with five wagons and to yoke of oxen to each wagon; and they left Darwin, that county, April 2, 1849, for the golden West. At St. Louis they purchased their provisions, and also at the United States Arsenal at that city carbines and holster pistols for their five horses, fitting themselves out as dragoons, for defense in case of emergency. They journeyed up the Platte River and through the South Pass to the north of Salt Lake by what was called the Sublett cut-off, thense by the head-waters of Snake River to those of the Humboldt and down the latter to the Lassen cut-off, which led to the head-waters of Pit River, near the Oregon line. Thus far they had no serious trouble with the Indians; but here, after getting over the backbone of the mountains, the Indians one dark night stole or killed about half of their oxen. To this point they had hauled a good supply of side bacon, coffee, flour, etc., which they could take no further in its entirety. They therefore took what they conveniently could and stacked up the rest by the side of the road, putting a notice upon it for all persons to help themselves. The company had from the start a captain and a treasurer--offices held by the subject of this sketch--and their general method was to stop each day early enough to give their cattle time to eat before dark. They formed their wagons in a circle around their camp, and at dusk they brought their oxen in and tied them to the outside wheels of the wagons. One man would guard the cattle until midnight, another until morning, and then a third while they were feeding. Two men did all the cooking for one week, and two others the next day, and so on. After their loss on Pit River they proceeded southward by the foot of Lassen's Peak, emerging from the mountains at Dear Creek near Peter Lassen's, in the Sacramento Valley, October 13, 1849, after having been six months on the journey. After resting and feasting a few days on tender beef, etc., at $1 a meal, the company dissolved. Mr. Clark with one or two others went to Long's Bar, a short distance above where Oroville now is, on the Feather River, where they stopped during the winter and spring of 1849-'50, following mining along the banks of the river. In the spring Mr. Clark went seventy-five or 100 miles up into the mountains, near the middle fork of Feather River, and established a trading post and herding ranch in American Valley, where now is located Quincy, the county seat of Plumas County. In this enterprise a partner from Missouri named Thomas Thing took what money Mr. Clark had and a horse, and went down the Sacramento to purchase supplies,--which was the last ever known of him or the horse. Mr. Clark had paid $200 for the horse. He conducted the business alone, and in two or three months cleared about $1,000. He was the first and only resident of that valley in 1850. Returning to the Long's Bar on the Feather River, he entered mercantile business with one J. T. Elliott for that winter. The next spring he formed a copartnership with a cousin, Lewis Clark, from Beloit, Wisconsin, and established a store at Gray Eagle, on middle fork of the American River, in El Dorado County, and later at Battle Hill, near Georgetown, same county. They purchased considerable real estate in and near Sacramento, and in 1856 they closed business and returned East by the Isthmus of Panama to New York. A year and a half afterward Mr. Clark came again to California, and has made his home here ever since. He has been twice married, first to Miss Marietta Parsons, in 1844, and again to Anna E. Galloup, a native of Rhode Island, and brought up in Leominster, Massachusetts. His elegant house was built six years ago on ground which he has occupied ever since 1856. Thirty years ago he set out with his own hands a magnificent vineyard here, mostly of Mission grapes, which is still in its prime. He is now seventy-eight years of age, and though his life has been a checkered one, he is as well preserved and active as most men who are twenty years younger. Since he came to California he has held many positions of trust, although never a politician. He has been a deputy United States Marshal and a member of the commission to secure lands for the building of the railroad shops. On his father's side his genealogy can be traced six generations back, to one Edmund Clark, who came from London in 1635, in the ship Speedwell (mate of the Mayflower, Joe Chapell, master), and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts.

An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. By Hon. Win. J Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 273-274.

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton.